Iran Standards and Quality Inspection Company has released a new report on the quality of 43 locally-made cars.
The new statistics show domestic cars are still suffering from low ratings, with some of the models being produced for over a decade.
According to ISQI’s report, in a 30-day period starting July 22, a total of 90,345 units, featuring 36 models of cars and seven types of pickup trucks, were manufactured in Iran. These passenger vehicles had a 93% share of the overall market.
The cars have been classified in five price ranges from the lowest costing under 250 million rials ($7,143) to the costliest priced at above 1 billion rials ($28,571), IRNA reported on September 16.
In January, vehicle auditing methods were restructured and depending on their quality, cars received a rating of one to five stars.
The latest quality rankings place Mazda 3, Renault’s Sandero, Tondar 90 (L90 or Dacia Logan), Haima S7 and Runna on top of the list, each receiving a maximum of three stars.
Kia’s Cerato, which is assembled by SAIPA, lost a star and joined the 10 cars with two stars. The model had garnered three stars in August.
All other cars received only one star.
According to the report, Peugeot 405 (produced by IKCO) with one star and Brilliance H330 (produced by SAIPA) with two stars registered the highest and lowest production volume respectively during this period.
During this period, 6,324 pickup trucks were produced, of which Nissan’s hybrid pickup truck and Tondar showed the most and lowest numbers produced respectively.
This is while Tondar pickup truck is the only model to have earned three stars, while all other trucks received a poor rating.
Since the implementation of the new quality assessment system, no local cars have obtained more than three stars.
Although the new ranking system is considered to be stricter than the previous system by officials, it has been criticized for leaving out critical information on car quality.
Vehicles are evaluated on criteria, such as technicalities, performance, engine malfunction, brakes and electronics, categorized by ISQI as “dynamic measurements”.
Problems concerning design and assembly are also taken into account as are unusual sound, water resistance, body work and paint that are considered “static measurements”.
ISQI recently announced that the production line of vehicles deemed unsafe or containing critical flaws in their design will be shut down.
As yet, no production line has been shut down due to low quality.
After the recent report was published, Director of Iran’s Industrial Development and Renovation Organization Manosur Moazzemi said boosting quality, production rate and customer satisfaction tops the agenda of Iran’s Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade.
“In the first five months of the current Iranian year [started March 20], 500,000 units has been produced by Iranian automakers,” he said.
According to Moazzemi, Iran aims to produce 1.2 million vehicles this year which, in view of recent reports, is not a far-fetched goal.
IDRO was established in 1967 to further develop Iran’s industry and increase the country’s share in the international industrial market.
